1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, an apparatus, a system, and a computer program product for machine-translating a document such as conference or lecture material.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, information technology (IT) has been commonly used during presentations at conferences and during lectures. For example, electronically created material is distributed to participants or displayed on a screen using a projector. Also, with increasing globalization, international exchanges among people with different languages are frequently held. Furthermore, with the spread of various communication networks such as video phones and Internet protocol (IP) networks, it is anticipated that such international exchanges in which electronically created material is used by people with different languages to communicate will increase in number.
On the other hand, with the development of natural language processing technology, the practical use of a machine translation apparatus that translates a text written in a first language into a second language has been achieved. Therefore, at a conference, even if the conference material is written in the speaker's native language, the speaker can provide conference material translated into the listeners' native languages by using such a machine translation apparatus.
Furthermore, with the development of speech processing technology, the practical use has been achieved of a speech synthesizer that converts natural language character strings as electronic data into speech output, and of a speech input device that converts speech input from a user into character strings and outputs phonetic natural language character strings.
Furthermore, with the integration of natural language processing technology and speech processing technology, an improvement is taking place in the practical use of an interpretation communication support apparatus that is used to support communication among people with different languages. Specifically, the interpretation communication support apparatus can translate not only conference material but also a normative presentation speech into the listeners' native languages. Thus, the interpretation communication support apparatus can provide support to overcome the language barrier among people with different native languages.
As described above, these translation technologies are very useful in helping to foster mutual understanding among people with different native languages in an international exchange such as an international conference or lecture.
However, most conference or lecture materials include only the minimum amount of information because the materials as created are based on a presentation speech and participants' background knowledge. Therefore, even if an interpretive ambiguity occurs in the process of translating the materials, it is difficult to obtain enough information for resolving the ambiguity from the materials. Namely, the machine translation apparatus still has difficulties in translating such conference or lecture materials. This is especially so when translating slides, which are frequently used in presentations in recent years. Moreover, it is inherently difficult to machine-translate materials because ambiguities unique to natural languages exist therein.
To solve the problems, JP-A 2002-222189 (KOKAI) discloses a technology in which headlines of articles in an English newspaper, which have little context, which is also the case with conference materials, are accurately translated into a target language with reference to the content of the articles.
However, even in the technology disclosed in the above document, it is hard to provide a highly accurate translation because descriptions of conference materials are summarized in consideration of a presentation speech in which detailed information is presented and of participants' background knowledge.